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 IU OPERA THEATER PRESENTS
THE MIKADO
By Gilbert and Sullivan
July 28, 29 and August 4, 5
8 p.m. in the Musical Arts Center
Guest Conductor: Raymond Harvey
Stage Director: Vincent Liotta
Set Designer: Peter Dean Beck
BIOGRAPHIES
| Artistic Staff |
 Raymond Harvey, Conductor
With an immediately noticeable style, Raymond Harvey has garnered critical acclaim on symphonic podiums throughout the U.S. Currently music director of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, Harvey has also been music director of the Springfield (MA) Symphony and the Fresno Philharmonic. He has appeared as guest conductor with many of the country’s leading orchestras, including those of Atlanta, Buffalo, Detroit, Indianapolis, Louisville, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Rochester, St. Louis, San Antonio, and Utah, as well as the New York Philharmonic’s Young People’s Concerts and the Boston Pops.
Equally at home in the world of opera, Harvey serves as music director of the El Paso Opera in Texas. Among the many productions he has conducted are Carmen, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, La bohème, Turandot, Aida, La traviata, Romeo and Juliet, Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci, and Don Giovanni. Other engagements include the Houston Grand Opera, Indianapolis Opera, and the Texas Opera Theater.
Also recognized as an outstanding pianist, choral conductor, and teacher, Harvey holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts from Yale School of Music. He has been featured in Ebony and Symphony magazines and is profiled in the book Black Conductors by Antoinette Handy. |
 Vincent J. Liotta, Stage Director
Stage Director Vincent J. Liotta has been both a professional stage director and a dedicated educator for more than 30 years. He is the head of the Opera Stage Directing program at Indiana University, where he teaches stage directing, acting, and operatic literature. Past professional projects include La fanciulia del West at the Canadian Opera Company (Toronto), Turandot at the El Paso Opera, and a new production of Die Fledermaus at the Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre. In 1993, Liotta co-founded the Utah Festival Opera. His professional productions have covered the entire history of operatic repertory from Cavalli to John Corigliano. Notable works include directing the world premières of Mollicone’s Coyote Tales, a new version of Frank Loesser’s Greenwillow, Edwin Penhorwood’s Too Many Sopranos, and the American première of Dragon of Wantley. In addition, his works with the musical theater include a new libretto for Victor Herbert’s operetta, Naughty Marietta and Viva Verdi, an original biographical evening about the life and work of Giuseppe Verdi. He has created productions at major American companies including San Francisco, Houston, and Santa Fe, and has collaborated with Harold Prince on productions of Turandot, Don Giovanni, and the world première of Willie Stark. |
| The Cast |
 Joshua Whitener (Nanki-Poo)
Joshua Whitener, tenor, is currently completing his Master of Music in Voice at IU, where he has performed the roles of Camille in The Merry Widow, Josh in Jeppe, and Mike in A View from the Bridge. Previous roles include Alfred in Die Fledermaus, Edwin in Trial by Jury, and Nanki-Poo in The Mikado. For the past two summers, Whitener was a young artist with the Des Moines Metro Opera. He has also spent two summers attending the German for Singers program at Middlebury College. Whitener is a student of Patricia Stiles. |
 Jacob Sentgeorge (Ko-Ko)
Jacob Sentgeorge has performed often on the IU Opera Theater stage in the tenor roles of Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Vašek in Smetana’s The Bartered Bride, Ladislav Sipos in Harnick & Bock’s She Loves Me, and the Rev. Adams in Britten’s Peter Grimes. Completing his Master Degree in Voice in 2004 with James McDonald, Sentgeorge also gained much from his study with Andreas Poulimenos and Timothy Noble. He is currently pursuing his Doctor of Music in Voice, studying with Mary Ann Hart. In 2000, Sentgeorge received his bachelor’s in Music, with emphasis in Digital Arts from Stetson University (DeLand, FL), where he studied as a baritone with Lloyd Linney and Craig Maddox. |
 Megan Radder (Yum-Yum)
Megan Radder, soprano, is a graduate student in the studio of Patricia Stiles. She has performed the roles of Adina in L’elisir d’amore and Despina in Così fan tutte for Oberlin in Italy, as well as the Shepard boy in Tosca for Opera North. Radder recently completed her B.M. at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. While at Oberlin she performed Belinda in Dido and Aeneas, Cupid in Orpheus in the Underworld, Cis in Albert Herring, and Barbarina in Le Nozze diFigaro. This role is Radder’s first appearance with IU Opera Theater. |
 Jennifer Feinstein (Katisha)
Jennifer Feinstein, mezzo-soprano from Cranston, RI, is beginning her Doctor of Music in Voice at the IU Jacobs School of Music, having previously earned both her master’s bachelor’s from IU. She has appeared with IU Opera Theater as Flora in La traviata, Martha in The Secret Garden, Mama McCourt in The Ballad of Baby Doe, Ilona Ritter in She Loves Me, the title role in La Cenerentola, and Rosina in The Barber of Seville. She returned for her second season with the Opera Theatre of St. Louis this summer, where she made her debut as Second Salvation Army Girl in Kurt Weils’ Street Scene and covered Rosina in The Barber of Seville. She has previously participated in such programs as the Spoleto Vocal Arts Symposium, Brevard Music Center, and the Charley Creek Vocal Workshop. Feinstein is also the recipient of an Encouragement Award in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions for the Middle/East Tennessee District, the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Mendel Opera Scholarship, and the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Merit award. Feinstein is a student of Costanza Cuccaro. |
 Erin Houghton (Pitti-Sing)
A native of Indiana, Erin Houghton has just completed the junior year of her Bachelor of Music at the Jacobs School of Music. She is a recipient of two faculty scholarships and has appeared in numerous IU Opera Theater choruses, including Eugene Onegin, Roméo et Juliette, the collegiate premiere of A View from the Bridge, and, most recently, Carmen. Her first Gilbert and Sullivan role was as Lady Jane in Patience at Interlochen Arts Camp. This marks her debut with IU Opera Theater. Houghton is a student of Dale Moore. |
 Rachel Copeland (Peep-Bo)
Rachel E. Copeland, Soprano, is currently a doctoral student at IU, where she studies with Timothy Noble. She graduated Cum Laude with a degree in Music Education at Baylor University, where she also received her master’s degree in Vocal Performance with honors in 2004. Copeland makes her debut with IU Opera Theater in this production of The Mikado. Previously, she has appeared in opera scenes as Ännchen (Der Freischütz), Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Marzelline (Fidelio), Blonchen (Die Entfuhrung aus dem Seralio), and many others. Copeland has also appeared extensively as a concert soloist in Texas and Oklahoma, most notably, as the soprano soloist in Mozart’s and Faure’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, and Vivaldi’s Gloria. |
 Alan Dunbar (Pish-Tush)
Bass-baritone Alan Dunbar (Pish Tush) is currently working on his master’s degree in Voice and studies with Costanza Cuccaro. Dunbar did his undergraduate study in music theory and composition at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN. He debuted with IU Opera Theater in the 2004-2005 season as Alcindoro in La bohéme, also appearing as Louis in William Bolcom’s A View from the Bridge, Dick Deadeye in Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, and, most recently, as Dr. Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia. His other roles include Pangloss/Voltaire in Bernstein’s Candide, Prince Gremin in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin with Opera Twin Cities, and he created the role of the Abbot in the new opera Sicut Erat by New England composer Brian Griffeath-Loeb. From 1998 to 2004 Dunbar performed throughout North America and Europe with the internationally acclaimed male chamber vocal ensemble Cantus. |
 Robert Brandt (Pooh-Bah)
Robert Brandt, baritone, recently completed his second year of doctoral studies at IU with Costanza Cuccaro. He has performed with IU Opera Theater as Alfieri in A View from the Bridge, Sir Joseph Porter in H.M.S. Pinafore, and Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Previous undergraduate and graduate degrees in Voice were awarded by Brigham Young University. While at BYU, he performed leading roles in many productions, including Peter in Hansel and Gretel, Orgon in Kirke Mechem’s Tartuffe, the title role in Gianni Schicchi, and Escamillo in Carmen. He was named BYU Singer of the Year in 2003. Brandt was a 2003 apprentice artist with the Des Moines Metro Opera, where he covered the role of John Proctor in Robert Ward’s The Crucible. |
 Gregory Brookes (The Mikado of Japan)
Canadian baritone, Gregory Brookes, is completing his second year of study in the Doctor of Music program at IU. After receiving a BMus in clarinet performance from the University of Calgary, he pursued graduate work at the Eastman School of Music, where he earned a Master of Music in Vocal Performance and Literature. He has performed with opera companies throughout North America, including NUOVA Opera Edmonton, Opera in Concert of Toronto, Eastman Opera Theatre, Brevard Music Festival, IU Opera Theater, Indiana University Theatre, and Ohio Light Opera. His operatic and musical theatre roles include Leporello in Don Giovanni, Lindorf in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Don Geronio in The Turk in Italy, the title role in Sweeney Todd, Pooh Bah in The Mikado, Simone in Gianni Schicchi, Elviro in Xerxes, Orgon in Tartuffe, the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance, Cervantes in Man of LaMancha, Alfred Doolittle in My Fair Lady, and Billus in South Pacific. He currently studies with Timothy Noble. |
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